Rep. Warren Kampf (R-Chester/Montgomery) today introduced a bill to reduce costs for school districts across Pennsylvania by exempting them from the state’s prevailing wage requirements for public works contracts, unless they choose to opt in to those requirements.

Kampf calls the bill the “School Construction Cost Reduction Act.”

“School districts today face crippling financial burdens,” Kampf said. “Forcing them to pay an inflated rate for public contracts is both fiscally unwise and burdensome to taxpayers, particularly to those on fixed incomes who face annual increases in property taxes.”

Prevailing wage rules require public agencies to pay contractors a wage “that is set by bureaucrats, which usually equals the union rate in Philadelphia or Pittsburgh,” Kampf said. In some cases, that inflates wages well above what that contractor’s work is worth in a particular location.

Kampf’s bill would exempt school districts as a public entity required by state law to pay prevailing wage. It also allows individual school districts to vote to pay its contractors a prevailing wage if a school board wishes to do so.

“Requiring our public agencies to pay higher wages makes no sense, especially at a time of financial hardship.” Kampf said. “School districts are struggling to balance their budgets. Forcing them to pay wages to contractors well above what the private sector pays places an excessive burden on schools and taxpayers. This must change.”